Creative productivity is largely a question of volume. The more ideas you can generate and test, the more likely you are to come up with one that is truly novel and useful.
Brainstorming, or “ideation” if you want to sound hip, is a familiar technique for generating creative ideas. My experience with brainstorming, however, has been disappointing. I don’t think most practitioners use the concept effectively. The point of brainstorming is to generate ideas, not to solve problems. It is merely one step in the full creative process. The brainstorming technique described in this podcast, however, is quite effective. It does a good job of collecting ideas from a group and winnowing them down to a manageable few that can be pursued.
The Idea/Concept Ladder is a technique that enables you to amplify the number of ideas generated through brainstorming. Every good idea in a specific expression of a larger concept. Every concept holds potential for generating multiple ideas. Find the concept behind a good idea and you can generate a rash of alternative ideas and expand your realm of possibilities.